Do you get your 5 a day or more?

[AbsentmindedWoman]

I find it difficult to hit this target every day tbh. Today it's easy because I'm making vegetarian chilli for dinner and will likely have two platefuls.

Other than that, today I've eaten a cheese sandwich and a bowl of olives. So if, for example, tonight's dinner was salmon and asparagus - then I wouldn't get 5 portions today.

I like all fruit and veg just struggle with quantity required to hit the daily target, plus only eat fruit a couple of times a week because I have type 1 diabetes and it frequently is very difficult to dose insulin for without causing a spike or a drop.

So - how do you manage it?

Yes - usually way more, as does my 1 year old. We are vegan so eat a varied diet with lots of veg and fruit.

I'd like to think that most days I do. 1-2 types of fruit with yoghurt & muesli for breakfast. Cheese sandwich with rocket & avocado for lunch + a satsuma. Apple as a mid-afternoon snack. Tomato & aubergine curry for dinner.

It's a bit more difficult when DH cooks. I tend to bulk out meals by incorporating extra veg, he tends to incorporate more pasta/rice/potatoes instead.

My work also provides free fruit for employees twice a week which is a great reminder & motivator to eat more of it.

I aim for 2-3 veg at every meal (including spinach or tomatoes with breakfast) plus fruit for snacks - even when I fall slightly short, I still get over 5 through the day.

Yesterday:
Poached eggs and spinach on crumpets with orange juice (2)
Open hummus sandwich piled up with salad (4 different vegetables, 2 portions)
Ham (small piece) with roast sweet potato, cauliflower, broccoli and sugar snap peas (3/4 of plate veg, probably 3 portions)
Supper of chopped apple and nectarine with a small soon of yogurt (1 portion)

That's 8 portions. I do slightly less well when dh cooks dinner: he tends to do less of fewer vegetables

Easily.

I have two portions of fruit a day - one at breakfast, one as a snack.

Lunch - most of my plate is always salad. Today I had a small homemade calzone, with 2/3 a large plate of salad.

Dinner - at least half my plate is veg. Tonight I had fajitas with lots of peppers and onions, plus extra veg on the side.

Yes,

I'm vegetarian so makes it easier.

Usually have a banana and portion of strawberry with soy yoghurt and muesli.

Maybe a pear or cherries as a snack.

Jacket potato with beans and a big salad for lunch.

Tea is usually pasta/chilli/curry with about 6-8 different veg in (onion, tomato, kale, mushroom, pepper, courgette, aubergine are all used up within about 2 days here). With a side salad.

Don't usually snack in the evening but if I do it's carrot and hummus or more fruit.

Basically we put salad with everything (rocket, toms, beetroot, seeds, cucumber, avocado, radishes is the general consensus). Often leave off the avo though

I think any fruit/veg you eat is great but technically it's supposed to be 80g per portion. The 80g can be mixed items eg. salad but 80g counts as one portion only.
You're also supposed to have variety so not two portions of apple and three portions of carrots for example.
Smoothies/fruit juice count as one portion however much fruit/veg is in them. Two smoothies still only count as one portion. Fifty smoothies only count as one portion!

This is a good guide: www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/5-a-day-what-counts/

At the moment very easily. I am eating mainly fruit and vegetables

But ten portions is almost a kilo of veg a day - how is that supposed to be fit into a normal day’s eating?

It may not be possible. I wasn’t recommending it just interesting to note the research! I guess the message is eat as much veg as you can. Some people eg diabetics will definitely not be able to eat that much fruit.

No I don't struggle. I am for 10, rather then 5 and the same for the kids. A mixture of fruit and veg and try and go veg heavy as less sugar.

Don't get me wrong I'm no health nut, but every little helps and all that :)

I have fruit every lunchtime and a boatload of vegetables with dinner. Not hard to make five a day, probably nearer eight.

Yes, but I’m a vegetarian and dairy free so without my five a day there wouldn’t be much else to eat!

But ten portions is almost a kilo of veg a day - how is that supposed to be fit into a normal day’s eating?

I think you'd have to skip out most of the carbs. I had lunch at my parents house today, we had scrambled eggs with asparagus, ratatouille, and aubergine...It didn't need any bread/toast with it (I had a buttered bagel thin with mine but I'm breastfeeding and constantly hungry).

Or sometimes in the summer I make a giant fruit salad with yoghurt on top for breakfast...by the time I've added half an apple, half a banana, assorted berries and grapes I don't want toast etc.

Its easier in hot weather I think! Although I suppose roast dinners are pretty good at having lots of veg.

I really don’t eat that much in the way of carbs as it is. As an experiment I totted up a typical summer dinner for us - a salad with hard boiled eggs or tuna, 3 or 4 different veg and maybe white beans or potatoes. Excluding potatoes, the total weight of the veg would be about 300g, and that is a huge salad.

You’re not supposed to have more than two pieces of fruit a day because of the sugar (we tend to have fruit as a dessert and maybe an orange or peach as an afternoon snack if we’re hungry after work).

So we’d have to have two huge salads per day to get to 10 portions. We don’t have breakfast and we only have a small lunch (we like to save our big meal for dinner). Soups and smoothies only count for one, even if they have loads in (plus again, bad for sugars and no fibre).

Five a day is easy, and we usually have more than that, but ten? I find it hard to believe that people can comfortably eat ten 80g portions. I suspect the advice is intended to nudge people towards eating a large variety rather than piles of veg every day (imagine the bowel trouble!).

Thank you for all the replies Great to see how many people do manage it!

I think I'll start adding a bit of chopped veg to the day sometime before dinner. The thing is I really don't tend to get very hungry before dinner and I also really dislike eating when not hungry - I have to do that regularly to counter hypos enough as it is. I eat something that I know works perfectly for my blood sugar depending on what the numbers and trending graphs that day are (ie my cheese sandwich, or grain free granola with greek yogurt, or eggs, etc).

Veg chilli last night was lentils, kidney beans, black beans, onions, peppers, tomatoes - eaten without rice (carbs) and tonight we might do some cauli rice to stretch the remainder. I really wouldn't fancy extra veg on the side for that, as somebody suggested, I was full and satisfied after two portions of dinner.

My appetite has really slowed in the last year or so. I used to be hungry for three meals a day so would bother eg making a greek salad for lunch and then also have a substantial dinner, I just don't have the appetite for that anymore. Stress and hormones, I think.

5-a-day is far too little. You should aim for 9 or more.

Well this is my point OP. I’m happy that my diet is healthy, but to get 10 portions in I’d be forcing myself to eat when I’m not hungry, which seems massively counterproductive.

Surely you'd be eating nothing except for veg?
I really like vegetables, and the odd piece of fruit, but I like other food too.

I've been trying to up my intake but tbh most days I'm on 4.

Five a day is easy, and we usually have more than that, but ten?

Yeah. I have read the whole thing before that 5 a day was set as the target because it's achievable for most people, and it really ought to be more, but like you and several others have said - where are we supposed to fit it in?

Surely you'd be eating all bloody day to squeeze 10 portions in, and not eating in accordance with actual hunger.

5-a-day is far too little. You should aim for 9 or more.

How though, unless you are ravenous every day?

Also, when I am actually hungry - grazing on veg alone wouldn't fill me. I need fat and protein. So that means the only other option is to eat despite not being hungry just to fill the quota?

Five seems reasonable to a person with my appetite, I appreciate I need to make more effort, but honestly I can't see how 10 works!

I am sure I do, I try to make a point of having balanced meals. Some form of fruit with breakfast, glass of tomato juice, definitely 2-3 portions veg for lunch, fruit to follow or for aft snack, then 2-3 portions veg with tea.

I can't cope with 10 a day- I'd never be off the loo! I'm afraid I eat what works for me.

Usually I have 2 - 3 portions of fruit

apple
blueberries
strawberries/ raspberries

Lunchtime Veg
Vegetable soup (home made)
hummus
Salad with something (cheese, egg, cold meat, tuna, prawns)

Dinner
broccoli
carrots
peas
green beans
stuffed peppers as a main meal
spinach
mushrooms

brown lentils in shepherds pie
chick peas

2-3 portions of fruit
3-4 portions veg

daily

total usually between 5-7